Statehouse Insider: Yeah, that happened, but ...

Gov. PAT QUINN's new TV ad is intended to show he has made tough decisions to turn around the state.

It includes a line about how when lawmakers failed to act on pension reform, he “stopped their paychecks cold and refused his own until the job was done.”

Yes, Quinn — who is now running for re-election against Republican businessman Bruce Rauner — gave up his pay until pension reform was passed. But lawmakers got their salaries months before dealing with pension reform. As you may recall, House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN and Senate President JOHN CULLERTON went to court saying Quinn's action to cut lawmaker salaries was illegal. They won.

There was also a side consequence of that whole cutting-salaries maneuver. Because of the court ruling, lawmakers determined it was illegal for them to cut their own pay by taking unpaid furlough days like they had been doing. Always good stewards of the law, they decided they couldn't do that anymore. So this year, each of them will take home at least $3,100 more in pay because they no longer take unpaid days off. Most will get more than that because they earn stipends on top of their base salaries.

This is one of those stories that comes with a large “but” at the end.

* Quinn signed the bill last week that puts the millionaire tax referendum on the fall ballot.

This is the advisory referendum that asks voters if a 3 percent income tax surcharge should be added to incomes above $1 million. It would raise an estimated $1 billion that would be doled out to schools.

We'll go waaaay out on a limb here and predict the referendum will pass and that exit polling will show strong support for the referendum among nonmillionaires. Always remember the old axiom that the best tax is one someone else has to pay.

* Quinn doesn't seem to be dealing a lot with the news media lately.

It used to be when he made a public appearance, he'd often end up taking a few (or more) questions from the media. Now, his official schedule usually includes the line “no additional media availability,” meaning no questions after the official event is over. And Quinn usually sticks with that, although on a couple of occasions recently the schedule said “no availability,” but Quinn took a couple of questions anyway. Mostly, though, it's been silence after the official event is over.

“His schedule is tight and (an availability) usually takes some time,” spokesman DAVE BLANCHETTE said of the sudden silence.

OK, then. He's not avoiding questions; he's just trying to stay on his schedule. That's good to know.

* Say this about Reboot Illinois, they put some fun into the whole idea of polling.

Reboot bills itself as a nonpartisan website dedicated to engaging Illinoisans in public policy issues. Last week, Reboot posted the results of a poll it commissioned on the Illinois governor's race that showed Rauner with a 14 point lead over Quinn. Quinn called the poll “phony baloney.”

What made Reboot's poll fun was the way it was presented. If you read poll stories, you know that they usually break things down by various categories. Who is leading in Chicago? Who has the lead downstate? That's normally accompanied by a lot of numbers to show the spreads.

Reboot presented some of this information through interactive pie charts. In one chart, for example, you start with the overall numbers for Rauner and Quinn. Click on a link marked “Democrats,” and you see the chart switch greatly in favor of Quinn. Click on “Republicans,” and the chart switches the other way.

That one's obvious. But when you get to regional results, the moving pie chart helps illustrate the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the two candidates.